(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle body assembly system. More particularly, the present invention relates to a home-position device for an assembly system, particularly for assembling side panels of various kinds of vehicles in a vehicle body main buck process.
(b) Description of the Related Art
Generally, a vehicle body is formed through a series of steps including fabrication of various panels in a vehicle body sub-process, followed by assembly of the panels to form a body in white (B.I.W.).
The vehicle body includes a floor panel that supports seats and a driving portion (such as an engine and a drive shaft) in a lower portion, both side panels, a roof panel that is disposed at an upper side, a plurality of roof rails, a cowl panel, a back panel, and a package tray.
Assembly of the vehicle body components is performed in a vehicle body build-up process (which can also be referred to as a main buck process). In this build-up or “main buck” process, the various panels are welded to form the shape of a vehicle. For example, side panels and roof panels for various vehicle models are sequentially fed to a build-up or main buck process through top bogies or hangers according to the order of the vehicles, and lower floor panels are supplied to the main buck process through bogies or shuttles according to the order of the vehicles. Then, a jig, such as a rotary jig which can be rotated to three sides, serves to clamp and couple the panels supplied to the main buck process.
For example, after a back panel is welded on a floor panel, both side panels, a roof panel, a roof rail, a cowl panel, and a package tray are welded thereon in the vehicle body build-up process through a vehicle body assembly system.
The vehicle body assembly system uses a side hanger and a side gate to control a side panel, sets the side panel on the floor panel, sets a roof panel, a roof rail, a cowl panel, and a package tray on the side panel, and welds their connection portions through a welding robot.
However, side gates are fixedly disposed at four sides of a main rotation buck in conventional systems, so it is impossible to assemble more than five kinds of vehicle bodies with such systems. It is therefore difficult to use a common assembly system for assembling various kinds of vehicles, and thus a long time is required for preparation of a facility and initial spending increases when further vehicle types are added to such a vehicle body assembly system.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.